Tactician  Mara
by Amelia Lynette Conner
Summary: In which a young woman gets a little too into her games. It took her a long time to realize that she couldn't just put the game down.  Tactician. OC
1. Prologue  Figuring things out

**A/N: _Revised. _****_Mara's still a bit of an idiot in most of it, but she doesn't spew out random facts ^_^' and some spelling has been corrected._**

**Okay, so I've found that I can't write Lyndis's story. Because of this I'm showing the tactician's introduction to every person they meet in part one, and actually starting the story in part two with Eliwood. You don't have to think of this as a chapter.**

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><p>"Guten tag, pretty lady..." The little roan haired girl sat up on the bed with a yawn.<p>

"Um, hello?" A green eye cracked open to glance at the beautiful green haired woman beside her.

"Well... This feels different than before... Hmm did I unlock something from playing this game too much?" She mumbled to herself. A full blown grin spread across her face as she leaned towards the Sacaen princess. "I'm Mara, Guten tag means hello."

"Strange name..." She nodded happily. "Hm... Well, I'm Lyn, I found you unconscious on the plains."

"Oh, I know." The small girl grinned hopping out of the cot. "That's how things like this always happen." The girl looked down at her bare wrist. "Damn, I don't have my watch! They should be close now though..."

As if on cue, loud booming laughter of a few men cut through the air. "Bandits?" Lyn looked surprised, then turned a suspicious eye to me. "How did you-?"

"No time!" Mara ran over to the other side of the ger, picked up Lyn's sword, and seeing another, grabbed one for herself. "Let's take them out!"

"Wait!" Too late. By the time Lyn caught the sword thrown at her and caught up, Mara was already in the fray, waiting for her charging opponent just outside a small cluster of trees.

Lyn gasped as she saw the girl run in with the bandit on her tail screaming, "I've never done this before!" Charging in after them, the woman was shocked to see the little girl, uninjured, run the bandit through with the old sword. "Forests give an advantage to those who keep a cool head." She recited, eyes wide in shock and muscles tense. She slid the man off the blade, flinching at the sound. "Always use failure with willing women on bandits. If not, taunt their looks. Against most others, insult skill." And she was off.

"This is so freaky!" She screamed as she charged the next bandit. "The tactician never fights their own battles!"

Lyn wondered what mental disease she had.

* * *

><p>Lyn watched the scene unfold with mixture of disgust, horror, and amusement.<p>

Disgust: "Oh beauteous maiden, would you grant me a name to call you by?" The green clad knight knelt in front of her tactician, taking her hand with a charming smile.

The green eyed girl looked away with fake bashfulness, pressing her other hand to her cheek.

Horror: "Mara... And who might you be, sir knight?" She glanced at him and blushed.

His face was positively glowing. "I am Sain; a valiant knight of castle Caelin! Lovely lady, why would one as beautiful as yourself be in such little company? It is dangerous for such visions of grace and beauty as your companion and yourself to be traveling on your own."

Amusement: "Oh! But sir knight, we are not traveling alone. No, that would be insane!" She took her hand back and pressed it to her chest, in a shocked gesture. He simply cocked his head to the side in confusion

"We have plenty of strong able friends about! We simply left ahead for some time to ourselves. My friends are quite over protective and possesive; it's rather stifling at times..."

His jaw was loose. "You're married?" She gave him an incredulous look and shook her head. "But... What? Who are these men?"

She blinked at him. "What men? I was talking about my imaginary friends..." Lyn snickered in the background, leaning on a very flabbergasted Kent, who stared on at the scene. "Oh, there they are!" She pointed to Bulgar in the distance. One or two people were exiting, but she grinned and added, "All 357 of them!"

Sain, couldn't help it. He started laughting as well, Lyn's endless giggles being contagious. It didn't take long for the tactician to join them, leaving Kent to only one too confused to do anything but stare at Sain and the girl laughing histerically together, with Lyn dying beside him.

It was quite the giggle fit

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><p>"Don't worry, no one's gonna die!" The short tactician grinned up at the lavender haired girl. "If they do, I'll just do it over again!"<p>

"Mara...?" Shy little Florina Blinked in confusion. "Wh-what?"

The Sacaen princess sighed. "Don't question it Florina, she says that to everyone who joins us." As the tactician skipped away to Wil, most likely to say the same thing, Lyn couldn't help but smile. "Though from what I've seen from her so far, the first statement will most likely hold true. I have faith in her."

Her younger friend just watched the bright eyed girl talk carefree with the laughing archer.

"It's a game; if I do something wrong, I can just, you know, start it over."

Wil had never heard of such insanity and couldn't help but laugh and play along. "What kind of game is it?"

She beamed up at him. "It's called Fire emblem! It's a story of finding one's heritage, and saving the world with all the friends they make, and meeting a lot of tragedy along the way. It all ends in a happily ever after too." She gave him a sly look. "If you play it right."

He held back another laugh. "So you've played it before?" Mara suddenly looked sad, for the first time in her play through this time around.

Her sad look was replaced quickly by a smile and she replied, "Plenty of times!... But... This time feels different. I hope the ending turns out a little better..." He cocked his head to the side in question, but she said no more, and continued on to skip over to the knights.

"What did I say?"

Florina seemed to be the only other one who caught her look, and stored it in the back of her mind. She would figure it out eventually, but it wouldn't happen for a long time, as Wil is... A man, and Mara is... Slightly insane and won't answer anything straight...

Oh, poor Florina...

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><p>They stared... And stared... And stared... Dorcas opened his mouth to speak...<p>

"Hi-I'm-Mara-I'm-the-tacticain-of-the-group-nice-to-meet-you-Dorkas-you-picked-the-right-company-dont-worry-this-group-wont-get-any-casualties-and-even-on-the Ouch!" She stopped, tears on the corner of her eyes. "Owies~ I bit my tongue... Anyways, as I was saying, even on the off chance we get a casualty, I'll just do it over again!"

She grinned, head tilted straight up towards the man almost twice her height, who just stared.

"Is she...?"

Kent answered. "Well, she does appear to be rather... Odd," He paused giving her a weird look. "Yet we've gotten nothing less than success under her wing."

"My wing is blue!" She exclaimed happily. They gave her another look. "Okay, okay... It's more purple than blue." She pouted.

"As I said, she is odd, but as you can see, not one of us is injured past shallow flesh wounds against as large a company as the bandits the previous night." The red head elected a real bashful smile from the girl.

"Thanks Kent! I hope I can continue to guide this group without any real problems." With a blinding grin and a giggle she skipped off to talk to Florina, who, to her great joy, seemed to have something to talk to her about all the time. She likes to talk about her games!

Kent blinked after her. "I believe that is the most sane thing I've ever heard her say and look."

Dorcas remained silent as he watched her talk animatedly with the frail lavender haired girl, who looked both frightened and amused.

"It's healthy." He stated, gaining Kent's attention. "Having someone who can remain happy in tense situations."

"I suppose... But you haven't seen her during a battle yet. I have never met any other tactician who fights with the soldiers."

"She fights with you?" Dorcas asked, surprised.

"Yes, she's not one to be protected..."

* * *

><p>"Erky!" Said man froze. All he could think was 'No... Not another one!' "Oh Erky! We're totally glad to have you with us!"<p>

The tiny tactician lept at the oddly haired male, dragging him to the ground with a silly grin. "Serra's gonna be, like, my new Bff and we're gonna, like, fangirl over you together, gossip TONS, and, like, totally stalk you. OMG! Is your hair natural?" He just stared at her in horror, unable to get away as she sat on his chest. "I thought so." She nodded.

"OMG, Erky, we're gonna get along great!" Her lip quivered and she drew her eyebrows together as she doubled over, shoulders shaking slightly.

"A-Are you..." Okay? Crying? Sane?

She swiftly stood up and ran over to Serra, one of the many people who had started watching half way through. "Oh Serra, you're Erky-poo, he's so..." She swooned. "Amazing~"

"Oh yes, I know. Only the best escort for a lady such as I." Serra replied smugly.

Mara erupted into peals of giggles, before full blown laughter came forth. "By god do I love acting like that!" She eventually said. She shook her head, short red-brown hair swaying back and forth. "But I... Strongly dislike people who are really like that." She gave Serra a pointed look

The tactician turned on her heel, walking ahead of everyone who stopped to watch her display. "Come on Erk, you'll have to give me some tips for the next fight! I want to start a partner system, and I need to know who you want to pair up with."

He quickly made his way to her side, looking more than a little akward. "Anyone but Serra. ANYONE."

She nodded. "And Sain. Goddess knows those two seem too alike for their own good... I guess I could try trial and error... If something goes wrong I can always do it again..."

He paused. "That makes no sense."

She giggled. "Just turn the game off!" Her grin faltered. "Though I haven't been able to lately."

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><p>"Our little thief slash spy is supposed to show up this chapter..." The redhead waited only a moment before twirling happily in place to greet the young man coming out of the house behind her. "Good day young spy, I would like to make your job a little easier!"<p>

"I'm sorry, but I'm currently lacking an employer." He shrugged, not showing any surprise at... Well, anything. "And I am simply a man with many talents."

"Talents that we need" She said seriously, lacking any of her typical joy. As she is on the battle field. "I don't want any games. I know thieves and spies are generally thought of as the same thing, and your many talents, hinted by the outfit of course, stereotype you as both, but I could care less which you really are. I'd like to hire you."

"Hm? You're the tactician then?" She nodded. "Well, I suppose I could help you out a bit here!" He chirped happily.

She smirked. "I'll warn you now, when you join our little troupe, you'll figure it out fairly quickly how I act outside of a fight. I spout what they call nonsense every time I greet another member of the team." She held her hand out to him. "The name's Mara. Mara Stiel."

"Matthew; though I'm sure you already knew that." He grinned with a sly look and slapped her hand in substitute, making her grin despite her confusion. "So you need my skills to open a few doors?"

"Indeed. Feel free to reap the spoils, but I want to take a look at what you... Find." She giggled as he chuckled.

"Will do! I think we're gonna get along fine."

The green eyed child nodded. "I won't forget that little comment you made." His grin widened. She walked back to the door, but before leaving, turned to him one last time and said. "And i will find out what you know. Tell your employer not to bother with us; it would only cause them unnecessary stress."

She walked on, a very peppy Matthew following close behind her.

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><p>"Rath of the Kulotah, I'm Mara, the tactician!" the green eyed girl practically sang, dancing around the silent man. Matthew watched the scene in contemplation and amusement, wondering where the professional girl from earlier went.<p>

"I know you're not gonna talk to me!" She continued prancing. "But I just wanna let you know that you don't have to worry about anything! No one in our company has died yet, and I don't plan on them ever! I'm disposable unit number 1." She stopped in front of him, holding up one finger.

He raised an eyebrow before walking off, most likely to find Lyn or Kent, who are OBVIOUSLY the real brains of the group. Mara giggled, book smart, definitely Kent.

Matthew sauntered over and pat my shoulder. "Poor thing can't see the genius under that act." She blinked cluelessly. "Though that is a pretty good mask you've got on..."

"The only thing I'm acting about is my curiosity." (for the most part) Mara said bluntly with a grin.

"Yes well I'm not." They turned to the voice, seeing Lyn standing behind them with a scowl on her face. "Mara, can I talk to you?" She asked, not even trying to hide her contempt towards the thief.

There was a long pause. "Well...?" The tactician prompted. "I'm right here, and no noble really has to ask permission to talk to a peasant."

Lyn groaned. "I meant, alone." She emphasized the alone by glaring openly at Matthew.

"Lady Lyndis," The princess flinched. "As lacking in justice, I scoff at the word, Matthew's occupation is, even you have to admit that we would have most likely failed without his skills. Though you may think his actions are underhanded, many more people could have died today if we didn't have him with us." Lyn recoiled, and even had the decency to blush at what her tactician said next. "I find Matthew is good company; get to know him before you judge him." The girl smiled again. "Matt's a good person. A good man."

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><p>Arms wrapped around the little blue haired boy from behind, making him squeak in fright. The thin arms twirled him in the air, and he relaxed hearing the short redhead's laughter behind him.<p>

"Finally! Someone smaller than me!" She exclaimed putting him down. He turned and saw her eyes were sparkling. "You're so cute! I'm Mara, the tactician of this group!"

He could help but smile at the ecstatic girl. "Hello Lady Mara, my name is Nils... Did you say you were..."

"The tactician, yes. I know I'm young," She sighed. "But really, senile old men don't really care about their units." A grin stretched over her face and she poked his nose. "No one in my care is ever put into a fatal situation. That includes this pair of siblings."

He looked down at his feet with a small look of guilt before smiling up bashfully at the girl who looked only a little older than him.

"So... What does your sister look like? She must be beautiful if she shares you features." Her grin turned slightly foxy.

"What?" He blushed, frowning in confusion.

"Hmm?" She gave him a curious look, crouching down below him and tilting her head. "What, what? You have to admit that you are adorable N- kid." She cleared her throat awkwardly, grimacing. "What's your sister's name anyways? And yours while I'm at it..."

Her grin came back a little and he smiled again hesitantly. "Her name's Ninian, I'm Nils. We are travelers, as I'm sure you've heard..."

"Well! We're both quite young for what we do, aren't we?" She giggled slightly, ruffling his hair. "We'll get your sister back, I swear it!" Mara ruffled her own hair, tugging on the growing roan strands. "I won't let us fail."

"They're strong!" He tried warning. The girl just nodded. "They use a lot of dark magic."

"A lot? That's useful, thanks! I'll be sure to keep that in mind on the field."

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><p>"Greetings Lucius! I just thought it would be best to introduce myself for the fight!" The green eyed girl grinned brightly as she skipped over to the feminine man who recently joined them to help the dragons. "I'm Mara, the tactician."<p>

"The tactician?" His head lifted slightly in surprise, but he hid it well. "It's a pleasure to meet you miss, as you already know, I'm Lucius, a bishop from the church of saint Elimine."

She nodded. "I'm gonna have a lot for you to do pretty man, but we have a partner system here. Try to keep this in mind; Lyn and Kent are one unit, the red knight and the green haired woman, then Sain and Serra, the green knight and pinky, Rath and Dorcas, the huge axeman and the ranger, Erk and Will, the Mage and the archer, Matthew, our hired thief is independent, I'll be with Nils, keeping him safe and advancing him to the castle, and I'll be putting you with Florina." She nodded to herself, almost forgetting he was there.

"Florina?" He inquired.

"Hmm? Oh, our lavender haired beauty of a peg knight. You're probably the only man she won't be horrified to be around." Hearing the question before he spoke it, she said, "Florina's squeamish around men. I just figure that, sense you look so... Well, you look like a woman." He nodded bashfully acknowledging the fact. "And you're nice! I'm hoping to get her a little more used to men, but I know it'll take a while..." She grinned up at him rubbing the hair on the back of her neck. "Do you mind?"

He shook his head, "Not at all. I think it's wonderful that you would go out of your way to help her with her fears. Most tacticians would just tell her to deal with it..."

They smiled warmly at each other. "Thanks Lucius... I think I'm going to really like having you with us." She giggled.

Mara dropped the gamer persona.

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><p>"Matthew! Come with me!" Mara called out over the battlefield, face void of any childishness she normally would have. Within seconds he was at her side and gave her an inquiring look. "I'm going to be busy for a minute, can you wait out here for me?"<p>

He nodded, then turned to Nils. "You want me to keep an eye on him?"

"Yeah. I think we both know who's here, but I want to make sure, and then I'll switch out with you; I know you'll want to speak with who I'm hoping this is ." He raised an eyebrow, and she grinned cheekily. "I'm putting things I already know together, Matthew. It not that hard."

He returned the grin and scratched his cheek. "Well, I guess. Really depends on what you already know, hmm?." He raised an eyebrow.

She stuck her tongue out, smiled at Nils then turned to enter the house with a huge grin. "Honey, I'm home!"

Matthew snorted as she closed the door behind her.

"And just who the hell are you?" Hector bellowed through the cabin. "Are you part of one of these groups fighting outside?"

I skipped over to the large, blue haired man and gazed out the window he was standing by. "Yup! See the green haired woman? The one fighting with a sword?" He nodded. "That's Lady Lyndis. I'm her tactician."

"The tactician?" He raised an eyebrow. "I find that hard to believe..."

"I know!" She replied cheerily. "I'm Mara by the way! What are you doing here?" He only glared at her. "Well? Hmph, fine don't talk to me... Your little spy is waiting to talk to you anyways..." She pouted in a huff.

"How would you know this?" Mara took note of his hand placed by his axe, and grinned slyly.

"So I'm right?" He growled menacingly at the child, gripping his faithful weapon.

She skipped over to the window her was standing by and leaned out, cupping her mouth in her hands. "Five o'clock Lyn!" She then watched as the woman twirled, beheading an enemy unit that was behind her. "I'd better go." She said without turning to the young lord, then hopped out the window, calling to Nils.

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><p>"Ah, there you are!" The tactician turned from her thoughts, looking out one of the fortress's windows, to the young redhead walking over to her. "You're Mara, correct?"<p>

She smiled and nodded, standing straight from her position. "Yes, it is a pleasure to meet you Lord Eliwood."

He smiled back, stopping to stand a few feet from the young girl.

Over the course of the last few weeks, Mara would be glad to say that everything about her changed greatly. Mainly, she grew. Her hair grew, her legs grew, her mind grew, and her maturity grew. She was still short, but she was happy that she was no longer Nils' height, as she was at the beginning of the trek from Sacea. Mara could now look (almost) eye to eye with Florina. She was changing a lot from who she used to be.

She had just been wondering what this world had in store for her, after the story.

"I wanted to meet the brilliant tactician behind Lady Lyndis's adventure. Is there anything, anything at all that I can help you all with?" He tilted his head in inquiry.

"It's kind of you to ask Lord Eliwood, but I believe that we've sucked enough people into our problem." She grinned sheepishly picking at her large green cloak. "If anything, this should be a fight between only Lyn, ehm, sorry, Lady Lyndis, and her uncle." With a smiled Mara hoisted herself up onto the edge of the window she had been looking out of. "But if her uncle wants allies, Lady Lyndis should get them too. Only fair."

The Lord was silent, appearing to be studying her. "You care about them." He stated. "You don't tend to find that in tacticians anymore."

She nodded. "I'm just a little bit different from what most think is normal. I don't like pointless sacrifices."

* * *

><p>"Hello Ninian... It's good to see you awake." Mara spoke to the girl gently.<p>

The group was due to leave in a few hours, and the tactician had waited until now to meet the dancer, as she thought it would be best to leave the siblings to themselves for a while. Now that Nils was abesnt, Mara thought it best to make a small fix in their schedule, before the last minute when it was supposed to come up.

"Ah, hello." She spoke just as quietly. "You must be... Mara? The strategist of this group?" The younger girl nodded, green eyes smiling as she knelt beside the ice dragon. "I must tha-

"Don't, please." Mara interrupted. "You don't have to thank me. I did it because Lyn wanted to and agreed because it was the right thing to do..."

Small hands took the slender one of the dancer and pretended to inspect them. "Even so, I feel I must thank the one that guided this group to my rescue."

"I apreciate a pretty lady's thanks as much as the next guy," She grinned cheekily, seeing the dragon's lip twitch slightly at the corners. "But really, when you meet him again... Properly that is, I would suggest to save your thanks for Lord Eliwood. He's the one who actually saved you." Mara tightened her grip on Ninian's hands as an emphasis, drawing the red eyes down to their intertwined fingers.

"But I... Oh!" In her head, Mara was sighing with relief that she noticed. They wouldn't have to change course right at the last minute. "My ring..."

The roan haired girl was surprised at the amount of sadness in Ninian's eyes when she realized Nini's grace was missing. "You look like your puppy just died; what's wrong?" Mara asked, knowing the answer. "Something about a ring?"

"It's just... My ring, blessed by the goddesses... The Ninis. It was my mother's ring and..."

"And it's gone. I'm willing to guess that it's important for a ritual revolving around these Goddesses?" She nodded sorrowfully. "I'll go talk to Lyn about it."

Mara walked out, Ninian's protests following.

* * *

><p>"Knight's crest!" Mara exclaimed, pointing enthusiastically at the General who just joined the group. Wallace laughed pulling a small object off of the corner of his armor.<p>

"Keen eye you have there tactician!" The bald man bellowed, showing it to the girl. "As you can see, I am a full fledged General, not just a little knight with big armor!"

She blinked. Unlike the game she had played, he was already in his shiny, humongous, general's armor. Mara thanked the gods that she had gotten taller and was no longer half of Dorcas's height, but she was still half of Wallace! "Well... You're probably like a wall in a fight... A very spiky and dangerous wall." She added, looking at his lance.

His bellowing laugh sounded again. "Let's not waist time; what's your battle plan?"

Everyone was already in their previously assigned pairs, and Mara clicked her tongue. She could just put Ninian with Wallace and be over with it, but...

"Will, Erk! Come here please! Ninian Nils, you as well." When all four reached her and the ginormous man beside her, Mara fiddled with her cloak while she thought.

There was barely any pause before she slowly spoke. "Erk... I'll put you with Wallace for this portion of the battle. Take out any magic users and Wallace can fight any physical units... I'll work out something better during the battle.

Her voice started to solidify with a little more confidence. "Ninian, I'll have you go with Florina and Lucius; they'll be happy to have you. If you get tired, Florina can let you on her Pegasus."

She brought a finger to her lower lip in contemplation, before yelling, "MATTHEW!"

Said man was instantly at her side with an almost scared look. "Whatever's missing, I didn't take it."

Mara laughed a little before addressing him. "Matty, who would you rather stick with? I don't see any real down sides to anything."

Matthew grinned and threw Mara over his shoulder.

Mara giggled insanely. "GOOOOO!"

* * *

><p><strong>Basically, Mara is a 16 year old girl from the real world that has a far too active imagination. She thought her first interactions were just in her mind and that she was still playing it as a game. She's not.<strong>

**A/N:_I love you all! I had four reviews with one (not) chapter! :D And constructive criticism!_**


	2. Chapter 1 Fire in your eyes

_**Hello everyone! I appologise for the absurdly long delay, but I really didn't expect so much feed back! 6 Reviews on one chapter! **__**I don't even know how this came out of me, sense I havn't played the game in months, but somehow you have sparked this, and hopefully we can keep that spark going.**_

_**Please enjoy the beginning of Eliwood's story, in 'Tactician Mara'**_

_**(I might change the title, just warning)**_

**Chapter 1**- **A Fire in your eyes**

Mara shifted her eyes anxiously from side to side. The fingers of her right hand drummed in quick succession on the bar table, left hand curled lazily around her mug of watered down rum, and her line of sight always finding its way to the door.

She had been waiting for a whole week in this Pheraen town for the game she was familiar with to pick up the plot, but she was sad to say that there were no dates in her memory and that the rest of the memories of the game were slowly deteriorating. She didn't know when the young lord Eliwood would depart from Pherae, only that it had to be soon or she would return to her books.

Over the period of time between her departure from Caelin to her stay in Pherae, Mara had acknowledged that she wouldn't be able to rely on her game knowledge to get through this journey. She had gone to the only place she could think of; Lord Pent's library. She needed real knowledge on medieval warfare to make it here now, and though she was a master of chess - the reason she started playing Fire Emblem in the first place - that definitely wouldn't be enough.

She didn't know when, but she had completely abandoned any belief that she would be going home before the story ended, if at all. It wasn't hard to accept, sure she'd miss her parents, but that was it really. No boyfriend, no siblings, few real friends, no tests coming up; nothing to really miss.

Mara was about to give up and leave when her attentive ears picked up the muffled shouts from outside. It could have been anything, but the tactician was getting impatient.

Exiting the tavern, Mara saw the beginnings of a riot, as large, ragged men with marred axes entered the town with malice and glee filled grins and eyes following fleeing young women. Flipping up the hood of her cloak, the huge old green one abandoned for a chocolate brown one with sleeves, The thin girl dashed to the stables, avoiding anyone's sight as she dodged the people who were releasing the danger, and once she made it inside, headed straight for her horse.

The horse had been her first purchase after reaching Caelin, bought before she even left. The horse, a stallion, was a dark brown in color, nearly matching the color of her cloak, and had an even darker, almost black mane. The colors of the beautiful beast were solid, all for the right ear that appeared bleached white. His name was Vanity.

Quickly unlocking the stall, she mounted her horse, still uncomfortable with riding despite her time on Elibe, and made her way out as fast as she could. Sadly, before she could reach the door, a figure came through, and if the axe was any indication... Yet the man stepped fluidly to the side, completely calm as Vanity tried to run him over. Not typical bandit behavior.

Stopping the horse so she could look back at the man, Mara felt both stupid and elated. She had been waiting in the wrong town, and if the bandits were here already, then she was late to the fight.

Mara turned the horse back around to greet an old ally.

"Dorcas, could it be that we have met in such circumstances? Dare I say, again?" She giggled.

Dorcas neither laughed nor smiled, but the softening of his eyes let her know he recognized her. "I hope we find you well Mara?" She nodded enthusiastically. "Sadly now is not the time..." He trailed off, brown eyes drawing to the raucous laughter drawing closer, screams louder.

The woman nodded. "If you're already assisting..." He nodded for her to continue, "And by the sounds of it, another kind soul is fighting beside you..." another nod, "Then it would be both rude and faulty of me not to assist you." She laughed loudly.

As she urged her stallion into a gallop towards the bandits, Mara called over her shoulder. "Keep together with your other ally! Watch each other's backs!" before drawing the sword strapped securely to her thigh and charging headfirst into battle.

Dorcas could only shake his head before leaving to find Bartre. Mara hadn't changed, it seemed; more on the sane side, but still... Mara.

Leaving the few bandits at the town's entrance to Dorcas and Bartre, Mara rode out of the village, immediately spotting a young man in gold armor upon a brown mare a short distance away. The girl clicked her tongue in distaste. He was fighting alone, one of the few strategies Mara could still remember failing miserably in the past.

Her horse reared back, the appearance of a bandit she had failed to notice due to distraction frightening Vanity. Mara fought hard to contain her laughter when the man received a hoof to his face, momentarily stunning him. Not one to give up a cherry picking, Mara quickly trot forward, Flinching as her sword slashed at the man's face. As much as Mara loved the feel of a sword in her hand, she rather hated the feel of the blade as it pierced flesh and bone.

The bandit fell, shouting out in agony, not quite at the point of unconsciousness, but Mara ignored him, blocking out the sound. Sadly she couldn't block out the sickening crunch as Vanity's hooves met with his skull, in substitute of her blade.

Turning back to Lowen, Mara almost had a freak attack. "Cavalier, Archer at 6 o'clock!" She called out, charging toward said archer. The green haired man disarmed the bandit in front of him and looked behind him just in time to dodge an arrow send to his head. Shuddering and releasing a breath of relief, Mara stuck her boot out as she charged slightly past the distance unit, knocking his head hard.

She turned and suppressed a curse as she saw him up in a crouch, bow drawn and arrow already cocked. A javelin flew through the air and through the archer's stomach, both fatally wounding him, and throwing the arrow off course.

She felt like falling off her horse at this point. It wasn't even half an hour in yet and she was already exhausted. The one year break from violence, already seeming ages away, added to her realization in the last journey that it was all real, had very much re-sensitized her to the battles.

"Thank you..." Mara said, rather breathlessly, when Lowen came to retrieve his javelin.

He smiled hesitantly, nodding in acknowledgment, but wary of her hidden face. "Just returning the favor."

She smiled brightly, though he couldn't see it very well, and waved enthusiastically, before setting off to find the young lord in charge of the fight. He wasn't far, closer to the other village, and with a dark green braided haired girl, Rebeccah, by his side. That left Marcus on his own elsewhere. Paladins can handle measly bandits.

Mara noticed after a moment that, with no other bandits about this spot, Lowen was rather slowly and awkwardly following her, making the girl grin again and gesture him forward with her. If he needed new instruction, she wouldn't stand in his way.

When he came up beside her in their gallop, she, oddly enough, remained silent. He kept glancing at her warily, and Mara was quick to notice, but kept to herself, laughing inwardly.

"My Lord!" They both called out at once as they slowed to a stop before the red head, making Mara stifle a giggle. "My lord, if you can make use of me, please do!" Mara exclaimed, cutting in front of the Cavalier with a huge crazy grin visible from under the wide rim of her hood.

"I'd recognize that smile anywhere." Eliwood spoke, relief and amusement clear in his voice. "Is that you Lady Mara?"

Said girl giggled when she saw Lowen mouth her name confusedly. Throwing back her hood, the tactician greeted her young lord with a mock salute. "Salutations, my good man! Is it time to kick some arse?" Lowen only gaped at her silently while Rebeccah giggled.

Eliwood replied in good humor. "I suppose it is. If you would be so kind as to guide us?"

"Do you need to ask?" She asked in a light, laughing tone.

Lowen looked between the two and hesitantly asked, "You know this person, milord?"

"Yes," he smiled glancing up at the cavalier. "I met Mara during the trouble in Caelin last year. She is rather beyond our ways of thought, but a fantastic military advisor, if memory serves." Mara blushed at the praise and avoidance of outright calling her mad like seemingly everyone else. "If not for Mara, the marquess of Caelin and his Granddaughter, Lyn, might not have survived Lundgren's uprising."

"You flatter me, my lord." Mara replied, voice reverting to that of a five year old, squirming uncomfortably on her horse. "I'm not so awesome."

While Lowen looked at her weirdly, Rebeccah smiled bemusedly, but just Eliwood continued with a wider smile, making Mara remember little things from the game. "What brings you to Pherae, my friend?"

"Just traveling about. Came to Pherae on a whim; felt like I'd be needed." She shrugged. Leaning exaggeratedly to the side to see past Eliwood, the girl saw the lilac haired Marcus approaching. "A paladin, fabulous!"

"Ah, Marcus!" Eliwood exclaimed, turning on the spot to greet the approaching knight.

"Milord." He arrested respectfully, tipping his head.

The red haired young man, turned to Mara and nodded, gesturing her to begin.

"Alrighty. Paladin, 2 Cavaliers, Archer, swordsman Lord..." Mara looked down, stroking the neck of Vanity, hiding her eyes as they turned calculative. After studying and learning the real way to be a tactician, Mara stopped relying on memories, and her chess mind kicked in more than ever. She hated how cold her eyes would become whenever her intellect came into play.

"I have evaluated their strength and numbers, and to be honest, I do believe that a worthy paladin alone could take on these numbers. However, experience is highly important, so, Marcus was it." The elder man nodded sharply in the corner of her eye. "I ask that you move forward, bypass the field between towns, and assist the farther settlement in fending off these thugs. Cavalier, Archer, could I have your names?"

"My name is Rebeccah, lady tactician." The dark green haired girl replied promptly, smiling in what looked like feminine pride. The man with lighter green hair started slightly, but introduced himself with little pause.

"Rebeccah, Lowen, pleasure. Normally I would allow partners to socialize and learn to get along, however we have no time for that. I will have the two of you head into the field to pick off those that are meandering between settlements." They glanced at each other and nodded, confident that they wouldn't bring one another down. "My Lord." He looked up at Mara, a grim seriousness in his blue eyes as they met her green. "You and I will head for the nearest village. I do believe an old companion of mine will be nearly finished there, so we can find him and his friend, before bumping Lowen and Rebeccah forward to assist Marcus." The three younger fighters nodded in all seriousness, and Marcus soon followed, having missed the conversation beforehand and only following his lord's judgments.

After the admittedly short battle, Eliwood, and Marcus, stood by the village gates speaking with the mayor, Dorcas and Bartre missing from the crowd, while Lowen escorted a pouting archer home, and Mara stood out in the field with her Stallion, waiting for everyone to come back.

"I'm nervous!" She blurted out to the horse. "E gad, I'm so going to die, and I'm going to get everyone else killed, but that's only if Hector doesn't kill me when we meet up with him first!" The roan haired girl groaned. "Ah, I shouldn't have made such a bad impression! He's going to kill meeeeee~" She slumped against the horse's neck. Vanity snorted. "Oh don't get sarcastic with me mister! I'm serious!"

Straightening her back rigidly, Mara began pacing back and forth in a short line, fiddling with her sleeve. "What if no one likes me? Hector doesn't, and Serra kinda sorta hates me in a mutual sorta way, and I don't think Rath liked me at all, and, and ugh!" She slumped against her horse once more. "I'm seventeen~ I'm gonna go grey~ I'm gonna be a friendless, jobless, old before her time tactician with a million cats!" The girl cried.

Vanity stepped out of her way, and Mara stumbled for a moment before catching herself. "Ha! Take that Sin! I pown you noob!" He pushed her over with his muzzle, and just stared at him incredulously. "I-I can't believe you just did that." She eventually stuttered out, wide eyed and pouting.

"Lady... Lady Mara?"

The tactician swiveled in her spot on the ground and her face stretched into a cat-like smile when she found an amused party of 5 men behind her, though she noted that Marcus looked more than a little skeptical. "That's me!" She sang.

"I would like to thank you for your guidance, Lady Mara." Eliwood stepped forward, hand over his heart in a sign of sincerity.

"Your thanks is more than I could ask for, my lord." Mara grinned brightly, rising to her feet. "I still owe you for your assistance last year."

Marcus looked slightly inquisitive, so the tactician turned to look at him, tilting her head to the side in question. "As the tactician of an army, would it not be your employer that owes your favors?"

It was the first time he had spoken to her, and Mara knew she'd have to try hard to break through his knightly exterior... And interior. With a giggle, the girl leaned forward and placed a finger across her lips as though she was telling a secret. "Lady Lyndis wasn't my employer, but my friend. Besides, the mini-army was my responsibility, so I chose to be responsible for everything; favors included."

She saw Eliwood smile as Marcus and Lowen frowned in thought. "You're definitely the same woman I met before."

"Oh, My Lord, I'm so glad you think so! Though calling someone like me a woman might be a stretch of the imagination." Her grin turned cheeky. "The maturity of a woman eludes me yet."

"I don't think you give yourself enough credit." She just shrugged. "Where are you bound for next? You said you felt as though you would be needed here?"

"I have no known destinations, but I don't think I'm needed here specifically." She shrugged one shoulder awkwardly, grimacing as she eyed to road forward. There would be a lot of trouble in the future.

Eliwood seemed to brighten. "If you have no destination in mind, perhaps you could travel with us." Mara's eyes sparkled, but she couldn't get a word in as he continued, speaking as though he was warning her, yet reassuring her. "Ours is a small group, with a single purpose; to find my father." He looked down briefly, and the girl stayed silent solely out of respect, acknowledging the dreaded future. "I don't know where our road will lead, but we would be stronger with you in our company." There was a tense silence as Mara stared him in the eye, observing the silent fire that the game could never portray. The fire dimmed slightly. "I understand. I shouldn't have pushe-" Mara smiled bemusedly and he cut himself off, flushed as he realized she hadn't really replied yet.

"You have a fire in your eyes, my lord." She mused quietly. "I would be daft to turn down the opportunity to see you set fire to the rain."

His grin was young and nearly untainted, something Mara found to be quite rare both here, and back in her old home. "You will travel with us?" She nodded happily. "Splendid! I pray we give you no cause to regret you decision."

"I doubt anything could make me regret a journey of purpose, my lord Eliwood." She laughed.

As they turned to leave, Mara staying on the ground and leading her horse, the tactician looked about the company and observed the units that would be with her for a long time to come. Simply nodding to Dorcas, already knowing how he worked, and promising a conversation later, she started with his companion, Bartre.

The man was involved in a very one sided conversation with Natalie's red haired husband, talking in a loud, laughing voice that betrayed a laid back, and slightly careless nature. A good contrast to his calm, silent friend. Sadly, while their personalities worked in tandem, the weaponry and fighting style partnership left much to be desired. Two men wielding axes with so little armor left large holes in their defenses. He would need someone like Matthew, able to pick off those fighting through his defense, or perhaps a Mage to fill his gaps in power, though that also left defense as an issue; perhaps all three.

Next she observed Lowen. He was young, but he had a strong heart, though it did stutter at times. Nothing he couldn't work on. He appeared wary of his surroundings, glancing to the sides often as though expecting something to come out of the trees any moment. It was a miracle he didn't see that archer sooner. His only downfall was a lack of experience, so, Mara thought, best to put him beside someone on his level, or someone he can learn from, Marcus, or Rebeccah.

"Milord!" Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear. Or in this case think of the devil. Sprinting down the beaten path they had been walking was the green haired archer herself, waving the group down. "Milord Eliwood, please wait!"

Mara stopped walking and soon the men did as well. Immediately she started observing the archer. Among the party, she would be very welcome, as there were no mages and no long distance fighters unless they got their hands on some hand-axes, or Lowen used another javelin. She would need to be with someone who could protect her at close range. Marcus currently would only be brought down by a partner, so that would leave herself, or Lowen. She would probably put the two green haired young adults together until better options arrise.

Blinking rapidly, Mara snapped out of her thoughts and realized that someone was trying to get her attention. "I'm sorry, what was the question?" She asked lifting her head.

Eliwood's concerned face met her gaze. "Are you alright?"

She laughed his concerns away. "Yes, I'm just peachy. Sorry, thinking too hard on future tactics. Is lady Rebeccah joining us as well?" Said girl blushed.

Relieved, he nodded. "I was just asking if you would mind."

Mara laughed again. "Having her with us would be fabulous from a tactician's point of view! But my lord," She peered up at him foxily. "You needn't ask my permission on whether someone can join you. You ARE the leader, are you not? And I haven't been hired yet." At his look, Mara laughed a third time. "I'm kidding!"

Marcus was looking at her skeptically again, so she nodded to Rebeccah and turned her attention to him so she could properly introduce herself. First, of course, she passed up her rains to the young lord with a wink a gestured that he could get on with a tilt of her head. She skipped over to the side of his pure white stallion and started her old routine.

"Hi! I'm Mara, I'm a tactician who's been working with strategies sense I could think!" Chess, she told herself. "I worked with lady Lyndis when she first left Sacae, and fought beside her until the end! I'll do my best to see everyone through to the end! Now, may I have a proper introduction to the biggest unit of the party?" She asked like she hadn't hit puberty yet.

He simply stared at her before stating his name shortly and continuing forward.

Mara stopped in place and twitched in annoyance of herself. If she was going to keep acting like that, then of course people weren't going to like her. Of course her fears would come true! Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. It was all so much easier when she thought they weren't real.

A large, calloused hand engulfed her shoulder, and the teen looked up to find Dorcas's patient stare, and beyond him Lowen's worried frown. Mara flushed in shame. Of course not everyone would like her, no one can be lived by everyone, but there are people who would like her the way she is. She smiled reassuringly at them, kindly removing the fatherly man's hand. Turning forward to see Rebeccah and Eliwood with the same look Lowen gave her filled her with an odd euphoria she didn't recognize, and hit her with what felt like an adrenalin rush.

Radiating joy, making the other smile, Mara sprinted ahead of the group. "Ahaha! Once more I have a troop under my blue wing! We shall turn the sky red, the sea black, the grass shall stay green, and the wind shall turn purple! It's time to take Elibe by storm!" She laughed evilly.

"There's the Mara I know." Dorcas shook his head, smirking.

**An: _I accidentally removed this from the last chapter, so I'll put it down here._**

**Who should I pair Mara with? (You may choose more than one person. If you already voted, feel free to add more characters to the list)**

_**I'm open to ideas, and will take count at the end of each chapter, but I can't guarentee that she will end up with the number one result in the end. **_**She will be in more than one relationship _(She's 17 for christ's sake, of couse she is) so even if your pairing isn't chosen in the end, she may have some time together with your choice._**

**Current votes:**

**Heath - 1**

**Matthew - 1**


	3. Chapter 2 Matured?

**Chapter 2: ****Maturity?**

As they neared the border of Santaruz, Mara was finally engaged in conversation with her old companion, Bartre curiously listening off to the side. However, the girl couldn't stay focused. The journey was only just starting, but she knew something… Negative would be happening within and even before entering this next territory. However, Mara found that no matter how she searched her mind, the memory would not return to her.

She had suggested that they request Lord Helman's aid in Eliwood's search for his father, and she was relieved to hear that Marcus approved of the idea. Truthfully, the only reason she suggested it, was that she _knew _the group would grow to ridiculous sizes. She would rather keep the group small, be as unintimidating as possible, and remain inconspicuous. Luckily she felt like she had made the right decision.

Blinked away her errant thoughts, she turned to throw another conversation starter at Dorcas. "Dorcas, what of Natalie?"

"Natalie?" His face warmed considerably. "Oh, she's still in Pherae."

"You live in Pherae, then?" He nodded. "That's quite a ways from where we met before."

"With the gold Lyndis's grandfather gave us all, Natalie and I were able to move to a more comfortable home. We chose Pherae so that I would not have to resort to… unjust means to earn a living." Mara's mouth formed an O, as the new information filed itself away in her brain. "I'm working for you this time, so she's not too worried"

Mara waved her hand in dismissal. "She may not need to worry about your physical health, but with me as the tactician, your mental health will be at stake instead!"

"What do you mean, 'your mental health will be at stake'?" Bartre cut in, curious and baffled. Mara just grinned while Dorcas shook his head slowly.

Skipping ahead of the axmen, Mara found her way over to the younger men and woman in the group. Eliwood had opted for walking, and after trying to hand her horse back, donated him to Rebeccah, who was the only one not used to such long distance travel. The two of them were in a light conversation; something about the archer's hunting techniques.

Looking up at Lowen, Mara tugged his pant leg to get his attention and smiled childishly when she could see his green eyes from the low vantage point. "Hey Lowen!" Her eyes sparkled, and he smiled back slightly, glancing to Marcus. Mara ignored that, once again filing the reaction away. "How are you and our other age mates getting along?"

"Ah, I suppose we get along well…" His hesitation made Mara frown worriedly, moving her eyes to his horse and pet the light brown neck.

Her voice was subdued and sad sounding when she replied, eyes unseen to the cavalier. "Is everything okay? No… disagreements so far?" They didn't see Eliwood and Rebeccah turn their sights to the two of them.

"No!" Lowen exclaimed. "No; everything is fine. Please don't concern yourself." He fretted, seeing the bubbly child-like girl slump so badly.

Mara felt relief flood her mind. "You sure?" She looked up with wide, concerned green eyes.

"Y-yes Lady Mara." He deflated from his tense position.

She gave him a blinding grin. "That's good! I was worried for a minute." She raised herself onto her toes and leaned forward to better lock eyes with the young man; to show she was sincere. "If you need any help or advice… don't hesitate to ask me, okay? I'm good at defusing situations!" She giggled.

"A-ah…"

With that resolved Mara turned her attention to Rebeccah, only to find both her and Eliwood watching her with smiles on their faces. "I tell you again," The young lord started, "I'm pleased to have you with us."

Mara blushed, flattered. "Well, I hope I can keep myself within you expectations, my lord." She fanned herself with the sleeve of her cloak. "You're making me blush so much I'm worried I'll get heat stroke!" Rebeccah laughed, making Mara grin, feeling accomplished. "Anyways, I've been meaning to ask; when I suggested we request aid from Marquess Santaruz, you seemed doubtless that he would assist us. Why?"

"Lord Helman…" The red-head took on a nostalgic expression and stopped walking as he closed his eyes and he reminisced. "He is my father's friend, and I've known him since I was a child. I'm sure he will help us."

"If not then he's at lease bound to know something about your father."

His brilliant blue eyes opened and he smiled down at her. "Exactly."

Mara felt like exploding with joy at how warmly this man had accepted her into his circle, but her warm butterflies were too short lived as she saw a large blond man with a rusted axe and bandit clothes and leathers approaching from behind him. She pressed her lips together in annoyance and grabbed Eliwood's forearm, and pulling him behind her quickly, releasing him as she did, and pulled her blade from its scabbard, pointing it at the man only a few feet away, both she and him standing in a stance crossed between offensive and defensive. In an instant, or perhaps he had been there first, Marcus was beside her on his tall white stallion, his own sword drawn.

"Halt!" Mara was quick to snap, eyes already taking a cold calculative gleam.

"State your business." Marcus commanded, head held as high as any noble.

"Heh heh heh…" The brute laughed lowly. "Noble sirs… and madams." He started, leering at the tactician and the archer who was leaning as far away as Vanity would let her, before settling his eyes on Eliwood. "Alms for a poor villager?" His voice was laced with sarcasm.

Mara scoffed, but remained silent, sword arm steady. "Poor villager? You look nothing like an honest man." Marcus's unnervingly cool stare turned into a heated glare when the bandit fingered the handle of his axe. He spurred his horse forward several feet, an act of intimidation. "Clear the road. Step quickly or-

Marcus was cut off when the bandit laughed again, louder. "Step quickly?" He parroted. "Heh heh, good advice." He mocked. "Maybe it's you who should follow it!"

"What?" Marcus questioned incredulously. Mara simply darkened her glare, eyes green ice as they scanned the field for enemies and an attack from behind.

"Someone wants the boy in an early grave." He leered once more, this time at Eliwood, scanning the young man top to bottom the same way he had the girls. "A shame if you ask me," Mara growled warningly at his piteous tone, but he ignored her. "But he'll die here today." With speed belying his size, he ran for the trees, escaping Marcus's reach for the time being.

"C'mon boys! Earn your keep!"

The joyous cries from beyond the hills were numerous, but Mara was relieved that she didn't hear more than a small choir's worth of voices. Everyone turned to look at one another, Rebeccah hopping off of Mara's stallion and handing him back to his owner. Rebeccah looked the slightly shorter girl in the eye. "What's the plan?"

Mara stood near the center of the group, eyes closed, and brows furrowed in concentration. Dragging up from the recesses of her mind was the area's layout. The map she had seen in the sage's library, what little she could remember from the game, the things she noticed when passing through to reach Pherae several weeks ago. A smirk formed on her lips.

Mara's eyes snapped open, and she ignored the surprised widening of the green haired girl's eyes in favor of her job. "That's too easy." She commented with a predatory grin. "Wait here. Lowen, if you could visit the village north-north-west of here and warn them of the impending battle?" She ordered, and with the light footsteps inherent from being so small, Mara ran out to scout beyond the hills, leaving Vanity behind.

What she saw made her grin at their lack of coordination. Most of the bandits were a ways from where the group was waiting, but there was a single thug, whether over confident or just plain dumb, standing alone by a cluster of trees. Shrugging off her brown cloak, Mara left it in a heap on the ground, revealing the sleeveless light green turtleneck tunic, and grass green riding pants she wore underneath. She opted to keep her brown shin pads, arm guards, and shoulder pads on, despite the visibility in the grassy fields. Hand on her sword to keep it from making any sound, as the sheath did not match the blade quite right, Mara bolted across the field, intent of the edge of the short mountain range on the far side.

When she managed to bypass the bandit and make it to the gap in the range, Mara felt a lapse in her cool headedness, as glee overrode her system. Quickly scanning the rest of her current battlefield she dashed her way back. When she got back to the group, Lowen handed her a thick yellow and blue book, informing her that an elderly man in the village gave it to him, with an awkward grimace.

The first thing she said was, "They have completely screwed themselves over." They looked surprised, one skeptical, and she snickered. "They have left themselves open for my favorite of all tactics!"

Dorcas nodded knowingly, arms crossed across his chest. "The bottle neck."

"Exactly!" She gave a toothy grin. When she saw several confused looks, she elaborated. "At the end of the mountain range, there is a gap large enough for one or two of their men to climb through. It just so happens that over 60% of their group is in the area beyond that gap. Using this to our advantage, instead of getting surrounded by their superior numbers, the majority of them can be fought off in a steady stream."

Turning to Marcus, who Mara was relieved to see no longer looked skeptical, but prepared; the tactician began handing out orders. "This strategy needs experienced and powerful units, or people who can switch out with one another. Marcus, I would like for you to lead this part of the battle. As a paladin, you have the most experience of us." He nodded his ascent. She turned and looked between Dorcas and Bartre, glancing at Marcus briefly. "Dorcas, Bartre, I want the two of you to fill his gaps. Do not push yourselves." She spoke directly to the newer acquaintance. "If you get tired, switch out with one another.

"Rebeccah." She girl's head snapped up, forest green meeting icy green. "Watch their backs. Use your sharper eyes to keep an eye of their surroundings. If anyone comes up the side to attack them from behind, or get another angle, try to shoot them down. If you can't: warn them." She nodded, serious as she realized her responsibilities.

Mara turned to unbridle, and remove the saddle from her horse, though she locked eyes with the remaining two men. "Now, Lowen, my lord Eliwood, the both of you will join me in advancing forward taking out the men along the way, so that we can strike the unawares masses from behind, surrounding them despite our inferior numbers. Due to said inferior numbers, we'll take our time; from what I saw, they don't have anything against us that would suggest we need to rush."

Stepping back from her horse, she turned a grin over to Lowen, cold humor in her eyes. "You and Vanity will lead the charge on the far sides, the young lord and I will follow down the middle. There aren't too many of them that way, but if we're capable of herding them together, that's all the better. Everybody ready?" She called out, facing the battle field.

Lowen however appeared confused. "Vanity? Lady Mara who is…" realization dawned on his face when she slapped the hind of her horse, making the dark stallion charge onto the battle field. The realization was accompanied by a look of incredulity. "Your _horse_ my lady?"

"I named him Vanity for a reason." She chuckled, striding out into the open grabbing her cloak along the way. "He's very vain." They watched as the single unit away from his own troop took a swing at the horse, but he rose onto his hind legs, dodging the strike, and when the bandit stumbled in surprise, received a hoof to the face. He fell to the ground, immobile, and Vanity dropped his front hooves like a rock, onto his chest. They could hear the resounding crack from where they stood in the distance.

"He doesn't like any men threatening his beauty. Any complaints?" The answer Mara received was the sound of hooves beating at the ground, and running footsteps, bounding into the fray. Looking between the only two left, Eliwood and Rebeccah, she shrugged her shoulders. She gestured out to the field. "Shall we?"

Part way through the admittedly simple battle, Mara was ecstatic when she saw an old friend on the edge of the battle field, closest to Santaruz. However, her joy was short lived. After she exchanged grins and the universal 'I got my eye on you' sign with Matthew, she belatedly realized what his presence meant. Standing sulkily beside him was the little banshee _Serra_. But for once in wasn't her that was making Mara dread the end of the fight. She could only mutter a short 'thanks!' and run when a bandit that was _trying_ to sneak up on her – she could hear him, but was too distracted by another – was beaten down by Wolf Biel, in the hands of a certain blue haired lord.

She still couldn't let go of the thought that he was going to kill her for the way she acted last time they met; no one talks to a lord like that. Even Mara, when not believing she was practically untouchable, would never be so… disrespectful of someone who could kill her on a whim. On his own, or through the law in Hector's case. She _knew_ he would never purposely hurt an ally, but he was just so… big. Twice her height, and nearly thrice her width, Hector was an intimidating man, and she wouldn't be able to simply run from him every single time they came in contact like last time.

So, when the battle ended, shockingly draw to a conclusion by a single arrow from Rebeccah's bow, she tried to avoid the Lords like the plague. Instead, once more bubbly and bright, she skipped over to the archer for a word of congratulations. She never got so far.

A pair of arms swept around her middle from behind, lifting her off of the ground and twirling her. Mara shrieked and giggled, stumbling when she was released, and looked up into the laughing face of the man she considered her best friend. "Matthew!" She threw her arms around the taller man's waist, grinning like a loon.

"It's been a while, Mara." He ruffled her hair. "You got it cut?" He asked incredulously, tugging at a short auburn lock.

"Ow!" The tactician withdrew from her friend with a pout. "That's why I got my hair cut! I don't want it getting pulled!" Indeed, where her hair had grown over time from when her journey with Lyn started, she had opted to get the rather long hair cut, going mid-back to just above chin length.

Matthew sighed and pouted right back, putting his hands on his hips. "But I _liked_ it long!" He whined.

"Too bad." She stuck her tongue out childishly. She froze. Looking behind her, she saw the amused expression on Eliwood's face, a baffled expression on Oswin's, glee on Serra's, and Hector… Mara could have died with joy. He didn't recognize her.

"Ah, Mara, perhaps you should be a part of this." Eliwood said, bright eyed and smiling.

"Perhaps I should." She grinned shyly, warm emeralds peeking up nervously to the blue lord as she walked over. "Information is the mind greatest weapon after all." He was eyeing her skeptically, as she knew he would, previous meeting or not. She couldn't hold back a sigh of relief when she felt her thief friend's hand on her shoulder, spotting a brotherly grin on his face. Her relief withered as she glanced at Serra and saw her glowering.

"Hector, this is Mara." Eliwood introduced when she reached his side. Still scared of the man, Mara inclined her head politely. "I required tactical aid in the search for my father, and she happened to be in the area at the time."

"Oh, I see." Hector responded, looking back to his friend. The little tactician almost sagged with the pressure of the stare off of her shoulders. "So this is who directed the battle plan back there, hmm? You know, Mara," She jolted back to attention. Mara worried briefly whether her heart would be able to withstand this journey, her heart was pumping in her chest so loudly. "You're very young. We've many strategists in Ostia, but none so young. Eliwood, are you sure about this one?"

Finally sensing his tactician's stress towards Hector and his evaluations, Eliwood gripped the young woman's shoulder reassuringly, and set out to satisfy both his oldest friend and one of his newest. "Lady Mara _is_ still a student of military strategy, but we've received nothing but sound advice so far. And to be capable of leading Lyndis's group against her uncle, Mara has my trust in full." The girl's face was a beet red, heart still pumping, eyes glued to Hector's forehead. She could however, still feel the eyes of Hector boring into her own.

"All right. I suppose I shall witness your skills firsthand." Hearing the suppressed amusement in Hector's tone, the girl's eyes found purchase on the lord's blue, blue eyes. He extended a friendly hand, grin stretching his face pleasantly. "Well met, Mara." She took his hand with a nervous joy; he was really giving her a chance! He didn't remember! "I hope you've matured from last time we've met."

At first her eyes were as wide as dinner plates, tiny hand still engulfed in his large one, but then a grin broke across her face, and she placed her other hand on top, barely covering half of his one hand. "You won't be disappointed, Lord Hector!"

"Now, Hector," Eliwood smiled, glad his friends could get along, if only for a little while. "What was this you said about rumors?"

Mara listened to the two Lords, content to listen to a conversation she didn't _need_ to hear, and completely forgot about blue eyes of a cleric attempting to burn holes into the tactician nearby.

**An: **_**I actually managed to do another chapter… huh.**_

_**Anyways: I LOVE YOU ALL! You're reviews fuel my muse! I do have a question. Am I doing okay when it comes to avoiding script? I don't want to be just copy and pasting everything from the game, so I'm avoiding script for the most part.**_

_**Does anyone want me to add a short character profile for Mara? Just confirming her appearance and what not?**_

**Who should I pair Mara with? (You may choose more than one person. If you already voted, feel free to add more characters to the list)**

**Current Votes:**

**Heath - 2**

**Matthew - 3**

**Guy - 1**

**Hector - 4**

**Wil - 1**

**Eliwood - 3**

**Raven - 1**

**Sain - 2**

**Kent – 1**

_**I'm really liking the thought of Hector, and maybe some side Eliwood, and a short rebound for Matthew. The plot is long enough, and I'll tell you right now that this story is going to be much longer than just Eliwood's story, so maybe I can even pull in a couple more. Sain would be cute.**_

_**I just want to say, that if any pairings you don't like pop up, a lot of them won't end up together. I have big plans for this story!**_


	4. Chapter 3 Tears and Tears

_**Just telling you now. With the direction they left in the previous chapter (to the north) I felt it necessary to turn this map on its side. If it was the same directions, they could have skipped over half of the map. So, West is now North, North is now East, ect.**_

_**Also, I'm making this a Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) present, and dedicated to AquaticSilver, because that last review you gave me motivated me to write the last 2000 words of this!**_

**Chapter 3 ****- Tears and Tears**

As they made the fast trek to Santaruz, Mara couldn't keep her mind on the situation. No, she was too busy attempting to avoid the pink haired Cleric with daggers in her eyes. That lasted for all of about 5 minutes. The tactician walked stiffed backed, and straight kneed (rather awkwardly too), Matthew jogging ahead with a cackle hiding under his breath, with Serra beside her in an irate silence.

Mara turned a wide grin to the other girl and pointed to the head of the group. "Y'know, I'm just gonna-

"You left!" Serra snapped out in fury, making Mara flinch. "You left and didn't say your farewells to_ anyone_. Not even Sain! Not even _Matthew_! Not even ME!"

"I've never been fond of goodbyes; too much-

"No excuses." She hissed venomously. Mara winced, never much liking fighting either. "You just up and left, without a care to whether or not we'd like to know if we'd ever see you again. You left everyone either sad, angry, or worried out of their minds about your safety."

"I wasn't!" Matthew called out from behind Hector, making Mara look up from the ground that had seemed so much more appealing to look at than Serra's red face. She flushed in embarrassment. Everyone but Marcus, Oswin, and Dorcas were glancing back; Eliwood with a look of curiosity and concern, Lowen, Bartre, and Rebeccah with confusion, and Hector and Matthew with very much amusement.

"Quiet you, you don't count." Serra ground out at the thief.

"Lady Lyndis wasn't either." Matthew looked far too gleeful contradicting Serra.

"I trusted our tactician to know what she was doing." Dorcas spoke against the girl, looking over his shoulder for a moment with a small bemused smile. Mara's face positively glowed at his statement.

"_None of you count_. The people who really matter-

"Are you saying Lyndis is insignificant?" Mara felt Matthew to be a heaven sent, even if he was really only making the girl angry.

Seeing the Cleric distracted, Mara attempted to escape from the beast and started to jog a little, hoping to make it to the lords and out of the pinkette's claws. "That's not what I meant and you know- Oh no you don't!" Dainty hands grabbed on to the bobbing brown hood of Mara's cloak and tugged, making her teeter and windmill her arms to keep balance. She heard Hector snort in laughter and her red face came back.

Thankfully, or not, Mara could now come up with a distraction of her own. "Oh, hey, look; it's the castle!" Green eyes narrowed, watching as a darkly armored - and severely balding - soldier approached her Lords. "Time to start." She grinned, already feeling the adrenalin that would come in just a few moments.

"Oh no you don't I'm not done with you-

"You can whine and complain all you want later." Mara snapped, eyes glazed over with ice. "Right now, we have jobs to do."

"What?" Blinking at the redhead, Serra turned her attention away in time to watch the green haired knight retreat laughing. Eliwood had to restrain Hector from pursuing.

Shaking off Serra's slack fingers, Mara sprinted to the head of the group. "Situation?"

Eliwood sighed wearily. "It looks as though we have another battle afoot."

Mara stared at the Lord for just a moment, absently noting Hector muttering 'I'll show him who's a _wolf_' for later amusement. How in the hells had this man survived all of the fighting they were in for?

"My Lord Eliwood, will you be alright?" She asked, eyes softening. He simply nodded, gripping his rapier in determination. Mara inclined her head in acknowledgement. Looking to Hector, she snorted at the thought of giving the man encouragement. He looked about ready to tear off some heads.

Striding to the river bank, she observed what little she could see and sagged with relief. It looked like there were still no mages at this point, and no enabled units either. In fact... there didn't look to be many enemy units at all. But there was too much hill and cliff side to be sure of anything just yet. Scanning the surrounding area, Mara recognised the familiar sight of rickety trees next by the water. She would be splitting the group then.

"Everyone!" Mara called out, striding to Rebeccah and Vanity's side to help the girl dismount. The stern expression on her face kept the new members attention. "It's time to get started. Dorcas, You see the trees by the shoreline to the east of us? On the farthest patch, can you recognise what I need from you?" Taking but a moment, Dorcas, who was familiar with many of the girl's tactics and strategies nodded, not taking his eyes off his next destination. "I want you to take Bartre, Lowen and Rebeccah that way, and meet us on the other side. You can fill them in on the way."

"Understood Mara." Without a word, he started the short way to the riverside, Bartre following in confusion.

Rebeccah and Lowen hesitated. "My Lady... There is nothing for us there..." It sounded more like a question than a statement, and Mara couldn't help but smile.

"Do not worry. Dorcas knows what he is doing. You will not be disappointed." Rebeccah seemed to take her word for it and bolted after the two axemen, and soon, so did Lowen, hesitation still clear on his face.

Mara turned back to her horse, shedding her bulky brown cloak and tying it to his saddle, something she had forgotten to do in the last battle. "It will take them a while to catch up to us, having more to do, so I suppose we have time for me to tell you what most of you are so confused about." She addressed to all but Matthew and Serra, who both held confidence in their smiles, though Serra much more aloof and strained. "The trees on the riverside are weak and easily broken. They are also still rather thick and quite long. Dorcas will use them as bridges across the river."

Realization dawned on Eliwood's face as he realised what exactly that would mean, but Hector still looked confused. "What is the point in that? Would we not hold a more powerful front if we simply struck all together? Why separate?" He questioned, only his curiosity keeping him from bellowing.

"They won't be expecting us on both sides, we're using divide and conquer, as well as using the element of surprise." She left the idea of ambush out if it, thinking the man would sour at the 'underhanded' tactic. Not waiting for a reply as she finished tying the last knot - she had to tie it down completely or someone would use it to their advantage or tear it - she turned to Marcus. "Marcus, just this one more time, you're our wildcard. I trust you to play by your own rules, so long as Your Lord doesn't get coddled, which I don't think you would do anyways."

Marcus seemed to accept this, but waited for the rest of the instructions to be handed out. It made Mara more than a little nervous. Having a veteran around - who wasn't as good humored as Wallace - watching her every move has made her quite self conscious. However, nothing could change Mara's mind on her battle plans once they were made, other than her own mind.

"Oswin, I'm leaving you in charge of protecting Serra. She's our only healer, and as much as I'm not looking forward to our future arguments, I'm not looking forward to her dying either." The girl turned even more sour than before. Hector and Matthew however, looked as though the world had been lifted from their shoulders. "You're a brick wall, she's a vase of holy water. Just make sure she follows behind the rest of the group." He nodded, serious expression unchanging other than the distinct tiredness underneath it.

"My Lord Eliwood and Lord Hector are to stick together. I must impress upon you to always have a partner in battle to watch your back. The both of you will be fighting with myself and Matthew until we are forced to split up. Seeing as-

"Wait, my appologies, but _yourself_?" Mara looked over to the knight, Oswin, and her iced eyes widened slightly in realization.

She smiled at the usual reaction. "Yes, Oswin, I will be fighting as well. I'm a little bit more conventional than your everyday tactician." She accentuated the statement by gripping the pommel of the sword strapped to her waist. "Now, as I was saying, and you can ask me questions after the battle men," She almost laughed at the audible clicking noise of teeth as everyone realized that, this wasn't the best time. "I can't sick Vanity on anyone due to the terrain. Before their was a straight path to follow; now he would just run and never come back."

"You're... horse?" Mara would have giggled if she wasn't already immersed in battle mode. Instead she simply raised an eyebrow at Oswin and started making her way towards the smallest of the hills. Eliwood and Matthew followed immediately, with Hector close behind, and Serra scurrying along as to not get left behind. Oswin and Marcus shared a skeptic glance, before looking over to the first group and watching in bafflement as they started crossing the river on a log, just as the girl said they could. How she had even _seen_ that, they could only wonder in suspicion, though Oswin had the distinct feeling that she had been in this very location many times before.

He had been made aware by Lord Uther that the girl knew much more than any self taught tactician ever should, or even could. Matthew had been very little help in figuring out how she knew so much, just that she did and there was no logical way she could know all of what she carelessly revealed. He had disregarded the theory of spy work and other unjust means, but Oswin and Uther were not so quick to brush the idea aside.

* * *

><p>Her left arm throbbed like hell. Mara swore under her breath to distract herself from it, but it was a little hard to ignore. Only the third battle into this entire section of the game, and she was already pathetic compared to everyone else.<p>

Except maybe Serra.

But she couldn't exactly say that, not with this ridiculous wound on her bicep. No, she needed to go find the healer and maybe get the use of her arm back. She felt rather pathetic, getting distracted by Matthews excited shout and turning to see what happened, only to nearly lose her arm. She swore she could see bone before stole her cloak back and tied it around her arm. At least they were getting a new unit out of this.

She watched from the corner of her eye as a gleeful Matthew dragged the less than enthused swordsman behind him, while she tried to find the bright pink through her blurring eyesight. What was the Sacaen's name again? And why were all of the plains folk cursed with green hair?

"Hey, Mara! I'd like you to meet Guy- Are you alright?" Right, duh, Guy was his name.

"Not really." Mara answered honestly, swaying slightly on her feet. "Finding Serra would be nice. Took too long to wrap this thing." She looked at her arm, seeing the red color of her blood starting to seep through the thick material of her cloak. "Aw, man! I liked this thing!"

Matthew was shame faced. "This is why you told us not to go off alone. I _knew_ that!" He strode over and took her sword out of her right hand, handing it over to Guy, who eyed it then Matthew like he wanted to shank the thief. Which he probably did. "I knew I would be okay, but I forgot it was for the safety of both people."

" 'll be fine, Matt, jus' need Serra and her magic tricks." She slurred slightly, trying to shake off the man who was trying to put her arm over his shoulders. "Don't need your - AHH!"

Fed up, worried, and in a hurry, Matthew quickly abandoned that route, and skipped straight to hooking an arm around the back of her knees and carrying her bridal style, her left arm left to dangle uselessly in front of them. He quickly located Serra standing near Hector and Eliwood, as the three of them moved forward, Oswin taking care of the last enemy behind them, and Marcus far ahead of anyone else. The other group was circling the side of the castle already.

"Serra!" Matthew called to the cleric, even sounding somewhat distressed.

When they came to a stop, Mara immediately pushed herself out of her friend's hold, staggering as her knees nearly gave out, but managing to stand on her own. "I. don't. need. coddling."She ground out, carefully pronouncing each word as to avoid slurring.

"Oh my!" Serra exclaimed, catching a glimpse of the blossoming wrap around the other girl's arm. "How bad is it?"

"Not as bad as it could be." Mara grinned wryly as the healer started to unwrap it, waving away Eliwood's concerned look. "Really, I was jus' careless, got distracted. It could 'ave been so much-

"IS THAT BONE!?"

Mara flinched. "I was hopin' I imagined that." She smiled when Hector whistled. "Oh, don' worry." She started sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at the grinning Lord. "I've started to lose feeling, so it's not too bad." He snorted, grinning when she cringed at the feel of Serra's staff pressing against it.

Mara looked at the wound and she felt like whistling too. The axe wound was wide, deep, and bright red, looking as though it severed over half of her arm with how it had inflamed so much. Slowly, the inflammation receded as the cool healing magic coated her injury, and she watched in fascination as the skin started to knit itself together, ever so slowly. "Get going boys. This is wasting time, and the sooner this is over, the sooner Eliwood can get away from watching this, and the sooner Hector can satisfy his morbid curiosity by poking at my scar."

Matthew choked back a laugh.

"But seriously, get going! I'll stay with Oswin and Serra... Uh, or you know what, I'm just gonna-

"Oh, no." Serra cut the girl off, smacking her shoulder with the staff. "You so much as lift that arm above shoulder height, and you'll bleed out! Magic can't do everything. You will stay here, under my supervision, until the fight is over." Mara sighed in defeat.

Waving off a hesitant, concerned Eliwood, the men left Mara to Serra's tender mercies. And Oswin's suspicous scrutiny.

* * *

><p>When the group caught up to their Lords, they were met with a furious Hector, and a Eliwood leaning against the wall for support. Suddenly remembering what happens, Mara cursed herself for forgetting. The Lord of the castle, Eliwood's dear family friend, had died. Why didn't she remember something so heartbreaking for the young man?<p>

Immediately after the initial realization, Mara abandoned her place next to Serra, who was momentarily placated with the yelling she had gotten in earlier. Mara would be silent around the girl for years to come.

Leaning against the wall by the young man, Mara gave him a strained smile, leaning forward to try and look under his bangs. He lifted his head, looked her in the eyes, and Mara could feel her heart stutter. Never had she seen such devastated, angry, and determined eyes, bloodshot, on the likes of any man in her life. neither had she thought she would or wanted to see them on this one person. This kind soul had been injured in a way he had never been before, and is Mara wanted to cry for him now, she dreaded the future of his father's demise. It would be all she could do to keep Ninian alive.

Her smile had been replaced with a sad frown, and she averted her eyes, unable to bear the intensity of his emotions. Instead she looked to Lord Hector, who, she thought with a wry smile, frown short lived, that he looked all the wolf he aimed to prove to be. He was easier, simpler to look at. Less painfully raw emotion, only anger, and a margin of pity as his rage calmed and his pacing slowed.

"We go to Laus." Mara's, as well as seemingly everyone else's, head snapped back to the other blue eyed lord, taking in his determined, yet dull expression. "We must speak to the Marquess of Laus, Lord Daren."

Mara nodded without question. All she asked for was a time.

"We leave at dawn."

The fire was burning still_**.**_

_**Guess who got a job! Guess who's going to college! Guess who doesn't have a life anymore!ME! :D**_

_**AquaticSilver - I love you. SO much. I'm really glad you like this so much~ I'll try my best to keep going!**_

_**Anon:Evil Grin. I am taking that as a vote!**_

_**Elemental Queen, Did you just vote for a reverse Harem, or should I just put all possible choiced onto the list?**_

_**Hyralc, I'm doing the voting more for fun right now than anything else. However, it's nice to have a good idea of what is wanted for future planning. I have a sequel in the works already, even if I don't have a lot of confidence in my ability to finish anything**_...

**Who should I pair Mara with? (You may choose more than one person. If you already voted, feel free to add more characters to the list) I'm adding someone myself, because no one would know he'll be avoilable EVENTUALLY (like, sequel eventually)**

**Current Votes:**

**Lloyd - 0**

**Heath - 2**

**Matthew - 3**

**Guy - 1**

**Hector - 6**

**Wil - 1**

**Eliwood - 4**

**Raven - 1**

**Sain - 3**

**Kent – 1**

**Lyn - 1**

**Dart - 1 (though I do have other plans for him, so it's not likely to turn out)**


	5. Chapter 4 Male Bonding 1

**_What's this? HOLY $#!& A CHAPTER? Okay, I'm sorry this took four months. I don't even have a 'it was hard to write' behind the reason. College didn't take up all of my time, and work wasn't hard… I guess I was just very distracted by FIRE EMBLEM AWAKENING. If you haven't played it yet, I highly recommend you do._**

**_Anyways, without further ado~_**

**Chapter 4**** – Male bonding + 1**

Despite the plans to leave the next morning, no one felt comfortable staying in the castle any longer than necessary. Restless and driven, the group of 12 departed a mere hour after arriving.

Mara was practically forced off of her horse by Serra, because apparently riding would jostle the shoulder wound much more that walking would, even if walking made her more tired. The brunette honestly believed she just like to see her suffer. Instead, she offered her horse to Guy, who confusedly brushed it off, Eliwood, who politely turned her down, and Rebeccah, who accepted with a small smile and a glance at her shoulder.

Matthew, who, along with everyone in their old company, had never seen her injured through any battle, was glued to her side. Much like she was glued to Eliwood's along with Hector. However, unlike her, Matthew was perfectly capable of talking through the thick atmosphere.

"So you _can_ bleed?" He asked poking around the bandages.

Mara would be much more offended at the hero-to-villain line if she didn't know he had no idea it was, and still felt guilty for leaving her in the field. "Well, duh. I've gotten plenty of paper cuts that bled, and I _am_ female, you know?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" He asked, though his grin told her he already knew. Serra and Rebeccah could be heard choking in the background.

"Oh, you know well enough the answer to that!" Mara smacked his arm before flinching violently hissing through her teeth when the shoulder pulled. "Oww..." She whined pitifully.

She heard Hector scoff, and lifted her head to glare, looking much more pitiful than normal with her pout. "If you cannot handle pain, why are you even fighting?" He was actually starting to look like Marcus, who honestly looked like he thought she would doom them with how she and her friends were handling her injury,

"Not exactly a bad thing that I managed to avoid injury on my journey with them." She muttered, shooting a brief kicked puppy look at the blue haired lord, who pursed his lips with his left eye twitching. Mara could only stare; it was certainly an odd expression. She couldn't tell if he was annoyed, embarrassed, or angry.

Not wanting to risk the man breathing fire, Mara turned a grin to Eliwood, fighting back a grimace at the dark cloudy feeling, though somewhat lighter than it was a moment ago. Searching for something to say she blurted out the first thing she could think of. "Well, at least we got something out of this!" She immediately clapped a hand over her mouth.

The three within hearing distance -Hector, Eliwood, and Matthew- turned to look at her, one incredulous, one skeptical, and another curious. "What has that mind of yours thought up now, Mara?" Matthew asked poking her shoulder, grinning when she glared at his hand.

"Well, I wasn't actually going to say anything during this emotional high, but..." She glanced up at Eliwood through her bangs and softly said. "There's little to no doubt your father is alright, my Lord." At his sharp intake of breath, she continued. "It is likely that the person pulling the strings behind whatever is going on tried to stop you from continuing because you will be able to find your father. He must have found out something about what is transpiring and doesn't want him getting extra assistance; doesn't want more people finding out. If your father had passed on, they would have likely let us go on unhindered or simply killed us while our numbers are small. No, your father must be alive and rather important in the scheme of things. The Lord of Santaruz was likely in the way and knew too much; they couldn't risk him telling us anything." Her theory was met with silence.

Clearing her throat, Mara grinned plastically and, thankful for the setting sun, yelled out, "Time to set up camp!" before skipping forward, into the cover of the trees; she stubbornly ignored the painful twinges in her shoulder with every bounce.

"Mara you get back here and _walk _you stubborn wench!" Serra shrieked.

* * *

><p>As camp was being prepared by the soldiers (Mara being forcefully pardoned from the set-up), the useless feeling girl sat near the lords, idling listening to the two converse. She wondered for a moment if, them talking now counted as a support conversation and grinned to herself. Producers had to have discretion, but this was real life, so would it be possible for Eliwood and Hector to... she giggled and blushed at the mental images.<p>

However, as their conversation turned to her friend Lyn, Mara furrowed her brow and pursed her lips as a strange feeling curled into her stomach. Was she feeling jealous? Mara crossed her eyes in annoyance. Why on earth would she feel jealous? Sure, the two men were very attractive, as was Lyn, but it's not like she liked any of them... _right_? She hadn't even known the boys for very long!

Unless one counted her years of crushing on Eliwood as a gamer.

"You look slightly constipated." The voice sounded apologetic for saying it even as it was being said.

Looking up in confusion, Mara could only blink when her gaze came across the Sacaen nomad, Guy, holding a bundle of twigs and small branches. She grinned. "Oh! Hey, yeah, I get that from time to time when I'm confused, no worries." He looked relieved and smiles - more of a smirk - slightly. "I'm sorry." The girl grinned, uncurling from her huddled position on the ground and standing. "I never introduced myself. I'm Mara, the tactician."

Dropping the wood in a heap, Guy looked at her fully, and skeptically. "If you are the tactician, why on mother earth were you fighting?"

Mara couldn't help the bright grin that spread across her face. "Well, why not use my boots for walkin' all over them?" She asked, wiggling her toes in the brown boots. "Anyways, I could never live with myself if I let everyone else do the dirty work and keep my hands clean: not very honorable that." He nodded, accepting the answer with a satisfied smirk. "We should spar sometime! I like getting to know my fellows and what better way than fi-

A shrill scream cut through the air, and everyone one dropped what they were doing in shock. Mara screeched and clutched at the front of her shirt. "What the Hölle?!" Her head whipped about, before she turned to Eliwood with frantic eyes. "My Lord, you're command?"

He turned to the tactician, grim faced. "We'll help; what are the plans, Mara?"

Mara looked around her companions, noting Serra, Lowen and Rebeccah's nervous faces, and everyone else's passive or anxious expressions. Matthew looked expectant. "Matthew-

"On it!" He interjected, already heading for the tree line. Mara huffed amusedly.

Turning on her heel, she grinned feral at the group, 10 units, 12 including Matthew and herself. "Let's go kick some arsch!"

"You aren't kicking anything!" Serra growled.

Mara groaned like the world was on her shoulders.

* * *

><p>"Alright," Mara crossed her arms, ignoring as her shoulder twinged in pain, and furrowed her brows. "First thing's first. Lowen! Bandit approaching north eastern bridge; you and Rebeccah guard that point. Take out any enemy unit that approaches, but do not leave that post. Guy, Can I trust you to take the Archer on the north western bridge?" The green haired man smirked and headed out, but she stopped him with a snapped, "Guy!" He froze, innocent confusion overtaking his arrogance. "Take Serra with you. And Serra, keep back, we don't know what they might have on them." She nodded, sending a warning glare at Mara's shoulder before leaving, making her sigh in annoyance.<p>

"Owen, I'm going to ask you to take the south point. I can't see anyone approaching yet through this fog- Matthew?" She looked over to her shoulder at the hovering thief.

"Nothing yet in my line of vision either."

"Right. But we can't assume that they don't have us surrounded. Take Dorcas with you." As they departed as well, Mara had to close her eyes to think. It was almost like there were too many of them. Something was missing, but she just couldn't remember what hole needed to be filled.

"Marcus." The Paladin looked to her from beside his white steed and nodded. "Could you take Matthew and do some scouting? South-east first." Mara grinned. "Feel free to take anyone out on your way around." The violet haired man mounted his steed, and took off Matthew sprinting after him, throwing one more worried look over his shoulder at Mara.

Mara scowled. "Okay, at first it was sweet that they're so concerned over my injury, but now it's just annoying!" I heard Hector and Bartre snicker. "Okay just for that, you two are guarding Merlinus, and keeping an eye on Vanity." The fidgeting merchant jumped at finally being mentioned, but Mara paid him no mind. Honestly, she doesn't even have any lingering attachment to the man from her mostly forgotten games, so she couldn't tell if she never had him used, like Bartre, or if he was just here for one level. Vanity whinnied and pranced in a circle, before nudging a grumbling Hector.

"My Lord, would you accompany me on a circling of this water surrounded piece of land? I can't help feeling like I'm missing something..." The girl turned to look to the red haired lord, and giggled when he offered her his arm. "Such a gentleman my Lord, but I am far from a Lady."

"I know." He said simply, arm still offered. "But in this company, you are as much a Lady as I am a Lord." His smile was warm and obviously joking, but Mara couldn't fight back a blush.

She looked away from his smiling face, but when she did, she saw out of the corner of her eye that he faltered at that. Silly man probably thinks he offended her. Placing her tiny hand on his arm, Mara mumbled a quiet "Thank you." and let him lead the way. She could feel Hector's eyes on the back of their heads and the laughing grin may as well have been right in front of her. Her head whipped around to glare -pout- at the three men who were being left behind, one looking amused, one confused, and the last baffled. "Behave!"

"Yes Mother!" Hector sniped, even as the sounds of battle became loud enough to hear from where they were.

Mara's faced burned, and Eliwood wasn't helping. "You heard her children, behave." The two Lords were grinning like children at a candy shop at Mara's embarrassment, but the girl was relieved enough to see Eliwood smiling that she didn't snap back at them.

"You guys suck!" It didn't stop her from whining, as she turned again and tugged Eliwood along to begin searching for what was missing.

* * *

><p>Freaking trees. By the time Mara and Eliwood found the problem, the enemy was already utilizing it. The trees to the west of the little island they were on were weak, and as the units chipped away at its foundations, Mara knew they had little time to prepare for the enemy crossing over.<p>

Turning to Eliwood, Mara looked him straight in the eye and told him, "Go get Hector and Bartre. I'll hold them off if they get far enough to face me in battle.

He shook his head, narrowing his eyes at the order. "You go, I can handle this. You shouldn't be fighting with your bad shoulder"

"My lord, I won't leave you here alone when you are the foundation of our company. My injury is not on my sword arm, and I should be fine. It is possible that they won't even make it to crossing by the time you get back, but that's only if you go _now_." She stood firm, hand on the hilt of her blade, and faced the water. "Go Eliwood. I'll be fine." She threw a grin over her shoulder and stated, "I always am."

The man hesitated for only a moment, before turning on his heel and fleeing back to the others as fast as he could. Mara quickly turned into a bundle of nervous energy. "There's no way in Hölle that he's getting back before they cross." She groaned in time with the trees as they fell, taking a deep breath before leaping forward to meet the swordsman who came charging across.

Mara and he crossed swords, but one handed the girl had to quickly retreat, dodging swipes, and waiting for an opening. Her empty hand clenched as she quickly lost her patience with the backwards motion, and with swift thief feet, dodged to the side, and danced back around, so that she was behind the enemy and her back faced the tree bridging.

With a cry, she lunged, sword pointed straight in front of her at his heart, but stumbled as he side stepped. As his sword swung around swiftly to meet her neck, the tactician allowed gravity to pull her forward to the ground, ducking under the blade as it swiped a few stray hairs, and rolled. She cringed in pain as her injured shoulder met the ground roughly, but managed to land in a crouch and swivel in place to slash at the swordsman's knees. Her blade missed the mark, but her aim mattered little as the tendons in the man's right leg were severed. With a choked scream, the faceless unit fell to the ground, but a pained smirk made Mara worried.

A shadow appeared over the man's fallen body, and Mara felt her heart freeze. She could have sworn time stopped as a bandit stood before her crouched form, axe raised high to strike at the vulnerable girl. Her mind went blank, and she tried to stand, only making it half way, before a strong arm encircled her waist, and she was pulled against the cold surface of armor. The clash of metal against metal caught her ear and she belatedly noticed the second axe meeting the bandit's.

A third axe tore into the bandit's neck from behind, severing it at the base, and Mara turned boneless, relaxing against who she knew was Hector. She looked up, and met the highly annoyed and slightly concerned blue eyes of the Ostian Lord crouched by her side. "I'm having a really bad day, Milord. Can it be tomorrow now?" She squeaked. He huffed, annoyance bleeding away, mostly, for amusement. "Thanks for hurrying; I'm walking around as a third from now on."

"Shouldn't be on the field at all." He grumbled standing, dragging the wide eyed girl up along, and picking her up dangling by her mid section. Her arms immediately hugged her only support, and her legs curled in.

"Well this is weird." She stated casually. "May I ask why you are carrying me, Milord?" As he started to walk away from the tree bridge, which Eliwood had just arrived to looking confusedly after the two, Mara rephrased her question. "Never mind. May I ask _where_ you are carrying me?"

"To Serra." Anyone could hear the smirk in his tone as she paled. Immediately she set about slinking out of his grasp, but he noticed and gripped onto her cloak. "Don't even think about it." He finally turned to look at her as he spoke, the smirk blatantly in place, and annoyance painted plainly on the brows and eyes. "You're bleeding again, that's why."

"Oh." She hadn't noticed. Glancing at her shoulder, she could see the red seeping through the bandages. Mara grimaced, thinking that must have been from rolling earlier, and wished she had been a little more prepared and rolled on the _other_ shoulder. "Well, I suppose the group should start advancing anyways, if they haven't already gotten impatient and done so anyways. Hector." He stopped walking and looked down again. "Not that they would do that." She grinned cheekily, before frowning in thought. "...You can take me back to Merlinus, and then send Serra and Guy down. I'll need you to team up with Lowen and Rebeccah, to take the north end. I'll have Guy run messenger for me, and have the south end move on too."

Hector rerouted, surprising me as he headed towards Merlinus like I said. I would have thought he would fight it and drag me kicking and screaming to Serra. "If Guy leaves, you, Serra, and the merchant will be defenseless. What then?" He grumbled, obviously discontented with the situation.

Mara's eyes sparkled. No one had really had her explain things before, just knowing her madness had a method. "Well, I had Marcus and Matthew go tank scouting around the area-

"Tank scouting?" He cut in, bewildered.

"Scout while taking out any units in the way. Marcus is kind of awesome experience-wise, so he's good for 'tanking'. Anyways, Matthew knows how I work, so when they finish scoping the general area, he'll report back before expanding and advancing. Although, that's only during base missions: when he had a designated area to report to. Which, in this case, is the island center where Merlinus is." Mara snapped back to reality as Hector set her on her feet, eyes lowering from the lord's sapphire blue irises, to the merchant's onyx. "Uh, yeah, I'm gonna give Matthew the chance to redeem himself in his own eyes and play the role of guardian." She grinned back up at Ostian noble, rolling her eyes subtly. "Not that there'll be any trouble, right? I can count on you and Eliwood to save the damsel, eh?"

He snorted. "You are a lot of things, Mara, but a damsel is not one of them." She just smiled innocently.

* * *

><p>"You just invited him because you didn't want to carry your stuff around."<p>

"Well of course, why else would I invite the peddler?"

"Hector... You're so shameless, it's awesome."

**Be happy; I've beat Awakening, and college is done, so hopefully, I'll be able to get more done quicker. However I will be moving soon too… Well I'll try to get the next one done before that happens! If I don't, maybe I'll see you in San Diego's Comic con! Or Vancouver. Either or.**

**Who should I pair Mara with? (You may choose more than one person. If you already voted, feel free to add more characters to the list) I'm adding someone myself, because no one would know he'll be avoilable EVENTUALLY (like, sequel eventually)**

**Current Votes:**

**Lloyd - 1**

**Heath - 2**

**Matthew - 3**

**Guy - 1**

**Hector - 7**

**Wil - 1**

**Eliwood - 4**

**Raven - 1**

**Sain - 3**

**Kent – 1**

**Lyn - 1**

**Dart - 1 **

**Nils - 1**


	6. Chapter 6

Ahahaha, wow, I haven't been on Fanfiction in nearly a year, even just to read. Roleplay (and having 10 seperate blogs to RP with) has kind of taken over my life, alongside, moving, getting a new job, and appartment living getting in the way.

So...

...

I figured I had to update here sometime, even if just to keep people from being left hanging. This is going to be posted on all of my stories, just to save some time, since I'm writing this when I should be asleep before my shift.

Anything discontinued is also up for adoption if anyone is interested :)

**Fly** - Discontinued

**Groundless Suicide** - Discontinued

**Everything Changed** - Discontinued

**All is fair in** - Undecided

**Tactician Mara** - Will be Rewritten (without too much change)

**Summoner's Sacrifice** - To be continued

**Harry Aron** - Undecided

**Serious Players** - Undecided

I'll be back and working on these sometime in the future, and now that I have a full understanding of Mara's character (my main RP character) Tactician Mara will be much easier for me to write now.

So... Yeah! Things will be really slow going, but at least with this notice, I hope to GET IT GOING again.

If there's anything you'd like to know, don't be shy; you can come to my inbox any time.


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